I need help building a new and powerful gaming PC.

GochicoaM

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Feb 27, 2013
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I am currently looking to switch from Mac to PC and am looking for a powerful gaming PC that can allow me to stream and play WoW at 1080p while keeping my FPS above 65. I have a budget of 1500dlls. (special help with picking a graphics card / motherboard / cooling system). .
 

casper1973

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Dec 30, 2012
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CPU Intel i5-3570k
Fast - great over-clocker - reasonable price. i7's cost a lot more for very little benefit in gaming.

GPU
At that budget I would be looking for a HD 7970 or a GTX 680 if you prefer Nvidia. Either should handle WoW without breaking a sweat to be honest.

Cooling
Cheap and effective air cooling - Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo
More expensive air cooling - Noctua NH-D14 or Phanteks PH-TC14PE are among the best. Keep in mind they are quite large so you need space in your case for them.
Water cooling - Not my strong area but Corsair H100i always seems a popular choice.


I don't have time to put together a full spec for you at the moment so this is just a bit of advice/suggestions.
 

GochicoaM

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Feb 27, 2013
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Thank you for the advice, if you have the time to go deeper into the tech specs i would greatly appreciate it. I was also curious as to having 2 graphics cards would be the better choice or not?
 
Overclocking increases your cpu's ghz. For example, the i5-3570k runs at 3.4ghz. But if you have a decent cpu cooler and a good overclockable motherboard, you can raise it to 4ghz. It's a complicated process so I'm assuming you wouldn't want to do it. Using two gpus helps a lot of course. It would greatly raise the fps in every game and it would allow you to use dual/triple monitors without lagging as badly.
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock Z75 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($76.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: OCZ Vertex 4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card ($429.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($97.84 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: NZXT HALE 90 850W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus VE248H 24.0" Monitor ($182.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Keyboard: Cooler Master Storm QuickFire Rapid Wired Gaming Keyboard ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Other: Kingston 2x4gb RAM ($36.99)
Other: WD Cavier Blue 1tb ($67.99)
Total: $1453.71
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-27 20:34 EST-0500)

This build will allow dual gpus, but it won't allow overclocking. If you plan not to spend another ~$350-400 in the future for a second gpu, you could cut down the psu to 550w.
 

GochicoaM

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Feb 27, 2013
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Is rather not overclock but I would def be interested in tunning 2 GPU's, thank you for the help / advice. :)
 

GochicoaM

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Feb 27, 2013
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What do you mean by spending another 400 dlls? are you referring to when I get the 2nd GPU? I would also like to know what the 2 extra "other" pieces are for?
 
A 2nd gpu will cost you about $350-400. Also, the other extra pieces are the RAM and HDD. I found them cheaper at a different website not located on pcpartpicker so I put them in extra. If you click on the pcpartpickerlist, you'll be able to click on the "extra" link.
 

casper1973

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Dec 30, 2012
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There really is no reason to go for two graphics cards unless you plan on having more than two monitors. One high end GPU will give you more than enough performance, create less heat, use less power and take up less space. There are also a few cases of compatibility issues with Crossfire/SLI and reports of micro-stutter.

I also had time to put together a build :)


EDIT:

Would just be confusing things by posting another build. Nothing wrong with the one by RealChaos above and a lot of my parts were similar anyway.